Brown onion-shaped wine bottle with seal marked 'I Chriftmas 1726'. The early wine bottles were globular in shape with a round base and were held in special stands or baskets. Gradually the bottle took on a flatter base and so became self-supporting. The bodies were often onion- or balloon-shaped while the necks varied from long to short, depending on the preference of the particular country. In the eighteenth century the shape became cylindrical and this allowed the bottle to be "laid down" on its side.